Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Ok, first of all, I hardly ever use this space to carry on about my gluten free life..... but I have a celebration to share in that regard! June 1, Betty Crocker came out with gluten free baking mixes. There are four of them altogether, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, yellow cake mix & devils food cake mix. Today I made the brownie mix. Now I have had some gluten free baked goods in the last 6 months, some were better than others but seriously, none of them tasted like "real bakery" if you know what I mean! THESE BROWNIES TASTE NORMAL!!!! I just might eat the whole pan today by myself (which will not help my weight problem one bit!). So there you have it.... now on to our regularly scheduled blog post.....

Have any of you tried Mary Ellen's Best Press? Seriously, I am in love with this stuff! & no I don't get paid to advertise it! (but if they want to send me a few free bottles, I won't complain!). This bottle is lavender scented. It presses like starch, but doesn't leave any residue & it smells sooooo good! I'm just sayin...

Yesterday I made myself some labels to sew into my bags, etc. I printed them onto transfer paper using printshop, 30 to a page (don't forget to reverse the image! or all your letters will be backwards on the finished labels). Then I ironed it onto 1 inch twill tape & cut them apart. Simple! They came out really cute... Oh & Ally suggested the saying. I like it!

I've had lots of projects going. Here's a grouping I put together for the Church silent auction in July. It's one of my baskets, 2 dishtowels & a potholder. Everything fits nicely into the basket! All proceeds go to the youth group...

& finally, my hexagons! 26 so far.... it's still growing! Lots of other things going on. Making tote bags for church, birthday gifts for friends.... but all that will have to wait!

Well I didn't get any creative posting done this week, I promise to try to do that later! But for now, Here are Julie's latest questions from Tattered Threads & Willing Hands.

1. Was yours a religious family? Were Sunday's spent together with family? I have always been Presbyterian & yes, my family has always been involved in a church family & attended every Sunday. Sundays were pretty much family days as I remember...

2. Did your family take vacations? Did you go to the same place every year?We usually went camping, towing a pop up trailer behind our car. I remember lots of long car trips, sometimes leaving early in the morning. My sister & I (pre-brothers) would spread our blankets in the back of the station wagon & go back to sleep (gosh, we could never let our kids do that today!) We always went different places & saw so many states & so many different things!

3. Do you remember any special stories your grandparents told you? Did you sit on a lap when you heard these stories or did you hear them when you and your grandparent would walk hand-in-hand, taking a stroll? Do you tell any of these same stories to your children? Because my grandparents lived far away, there were no real stories in their laps.... mostly quick long distance phone calls (where we'd each grab an extension & everyone talked at once). My Grandma used to record herself reading books to us on cassette tapes & mail us the book & the tape.... I remember she read us the whole series of Raggedy Ann & Andy books. We did get to visit them now & then.

4. Did your grandparents live nearby? No, my dad's parents lived in Clearwater, Florida & my mom's parents moved around when I was a kid, ultimately ended up in Seattle, Washington. We lived in Ohio. What did their couch feel like? Couch? Hmm sorry, no memories there. How big was their kitchen? I don't know, kinda normal sized?

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Julie, over at Tattered Threads & Willing Hands has started something! She is posting weekly blog questions to help us preserve our history & memories for our children. I decided to play along. Here is the first set of questions with my answers:

2. Do you have brother's and sisters? one younger sister & two younger brothers. What are their names? Diane, Scott & Todd. How old were you when they were born? 2 , 8 & almost 11.Do you remember the first time you saw them? Not Diane, but the boys yes.

3. What about your aunts and uncles?Judy & Art, Ruth & Bill (her first husband was Bob). Did they play an important part in your growing up? not really, they all lived far away. Did your family get together much casualy or did you have to travel to spend time together? We didn't have any family locally. I do remember travelling to visit them all but we didn't get to spend time together very often.

Friday, June 19, 2009

This morning I mailed off 6 shopping bags to my sister in Ohio. The girls at the Cleveland Clinic, where she works are waiting for them.... including this one. I really love how this turned out & think I might make another for myself...Ally & I have been looking at sewing machines. She wanted her own for her 13th birthday (which is still about 6 weeks off). Today we decided to get this machine from Hancock Fabrics. Ally named it Steve. Why you ask? Because it's a BROTHER! DUH!We barely had it out of the box & Ally was on the floor pinning...And by dinnertime, she had finished this pair of sleep shorts! Great job I say!While she was working, I was right by her side at my machine making this: Fun fun! My first pin cushion. I filled it with crushed walnut shells that I bought in a ziploc bag at the quilt store. Everyone says you can get a big bag of them at the pet store cheaper, but when I went into Petco the other day & asked the lady, she looked at me like I had three heads! I will keep looking!

Ally & I made the fancy pins the other day with shrinkydinks! We're having a fun summer.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Well I must say, this was the most wonderful weekend! I was at the Alford Inn in Van Alstyne, TX for an overnight quilt retreat! It was glorious! The Inn is beautiful, comfortable & is also a quilt store! You can't ask for more than that. Oh & the owner, Cindy is a doll & her staff & family are so sweet!

I went with my friends, Joellen & Carol. There were other ladies there, new friends! & we all worked on different projects all weekend

The first thing I did was put together my quilt top of Red Letter Day fabrics. Remember the whole design process? Well I am sooooo happy with the results! I'm actually going to add one more border, of the tiny orange polka dot fabric, & then I'm going to have this quilted by one of the ladies who attended the retreat. She's a longarm quilter! YAY! & she has an allover pattern that is ducks....

I decided to name the quilt "Duck Pond" I just love the ducks & trees & it reminds me so fondly of when my kiddos were little & we used to take them to the duck pond to walk & feed the ducks!

Next, I decided to try my hand at a mini quilt. I pieced it by machine (those darned little squares are an inch & a quarter!) & then I did my very first machine quilting with my new walking foot. I think I did ok! Don't look too closely, it's not perfect but it was fun! All it needs now is binding.So, now it is midmorning on Saturday & my two projects that I brought are finished! What to do? I still had several hours of retreating left.....

Well, on Friday we had found a wonderful garage sale & I bought a whole bolt (15 yards!) of authentic pillow ticking for $11! So I decided to play around & see if I could make a grocery bag. I picked out some patriotic fabrics in the quilt shop & this is the end result....

I'm going to make more of these.... they are nice & sturdy & deep.... so that's what I did this weekend! I wish I could do this EVERY weekend! Sigh...

Saturday, June 6, 2009

This is my mom & dad! Sometime in the late 1950s.... they were high school sweethearts! & today they are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary! They are the ones who taught me, by example, what marriage is all about. Standing by each other in good times & in bad.... having fun together & working side by side. Today they are on their way to Alaska for a well deserved vacation!

Here's what I've been making for them....

I really had fun! I hadn't done embroidery in a long long time... & here is the label from the back of the quilt.

Of course I've been working on other things along the way. Like baby outfits....

and more fabric baskets..... Ally's granny-a-day afghan is over 50 squares!

And I have learned how to crochet hexagons....

So Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad. Thanks for always being there for us. Have a great trip!